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Sunday, 1 March 2009

Land of Song: The Redwood Version

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! And nothing makes for a fun Saint David’s Day like the sight of an English politician making a complete ass of himself.

So here is the highest expression of this art form, the defining moment. Here is the one and only John Redwood, gamely attempting the Welsh National Anthem, in his early days as Secretary of State for Wales. I bet his civil servants enjoyed the show. Alpha effort, Gamma performance.Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus I bawb!

Wow! many thanks. I remember a particular joyful seder to which Lucy adn I were invited by the Jewish Community in Milton Keynes a couple of years ago, at which raucous and pacy Hebrew singing broke out. I got a kind of second wind, based on 30 years ago college Hebrew (and reading a bit of it since, I suppose) and made a fool of myself the other way! But it was vastly enjoyable to be with such a vibrant, joyful community...

Great ! You are an Anglican Bishop with the opportunity to share some helpful reflections on the feast day of St David. What theme do you choose ? Mission ? The Church in Wales ? No - you choose to humiliate one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and perceptive politicians in your diocese by giving a rerun of a decades-old clip which has already been repeayed ad nauseam by your comrades in the BBC. What a great idea ! How thoughtful and imaginative !

Child of God by adoption and grace, husband of Lucy, father of five, jumped-up vicar (Area Bishop of Buckingham).
Born Edinburgh. Deacon 1979, Priest 1980, Bishop 2003. Cambridge MA, Oxford DPhil — ‘I am a doctor, but not the kind that helps people.’ I trained for ordained ministry at Wycliffe Hall. I have worked in various C of E contexts, urban and suburban, as well as in prison.